Tales trom tile 'Ihird Rock: Another Close bncountel' of the Judicial Kind

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Tales from the Third Rock

The life, times and perspective of an early 21st century man

Friday, November 12, 2010

Another Close Encounter of the Judicial Kind

There mU$t be something in the water lit tile LexingtO)1 Fayette Urban (Ounty GoYernment.

I had a court appearance last Thu~day. This time before presiding CIrcuit Judge Eme$to Scorsone regarding the Instance where I was that 6'4" llght-sldnned black dude with gold teeth, green eyes and hair WhO tried to ~idnap some pregnant chick in the middle of the Downtown Lexington TrMsit Center in broad daylight, but managed to aVoid every Single one of the sixteen cameras comprtsing theM multimillion dollar, state of the art survelltance system.

You hear(1 me., .S(lffiebooy remind me to lIoci shapesnifting ninja to my resume. Here's a rer resher for you amnestacs.

My previous attorney, David l:orin and I parted ways for reasons we most certainly won't ilgrel;' upon. He thinl<$ w~ parted ways because I couldn't ()fford hi$ tab. And I think we parted ways because I was better off with the public defenders.

Incidentally, I got drunk with him a couple or weeks ago and he expressed some interest in pursuing another civil suit against the City of LeXington ror rUining my life tile lllst five year~. I indulgild thi;l conversation because he'S good camp(l.ny . plus, he was buying the drinks, so what the helt- but I'm pretty sure I'm better off seeking competent representation elsewhere,

Profile

Pleas Lucian KWan<lugh

was born and raised in the nortl\ Western hemisphere. the southern reglon of the former united St(l.tes, The son or a draftsman and a Writer, his formative years were divided quite expressly between academic pursuits and amateur bOXing. As an adult, he is determined to foHow In his mother's footsteps and pursue a career as a screenwriter. He currently resides ill leXington, Kentucky. where he is actively engaged In an uphill battle against the local police department.

Anyway, we're standing before the judge; me Md my two guys, but the specially aSSigned prosecutor trorn Nicholasville, Robert GuUete Jr., otherwise I<nown as plain old Bobby Gullette, is nowhere to be found, which isn't, actually, unusual, I used to think it bizarre that he could just elect not to appear like he was skipping first period, b(Jt I)<lve since come to expect Ills absence because I\e's onty attended maybe two appointments since I got Ch~rged with this nonsense last December and it's starting to get under my skin because every time he doesn't show, Scorsone just shrug;~ ~r\() sche(llJles another appointment for me as If I haVe nothing better to do with my time than brighten the courtroom with my pretty face.

Where In the hell (li(l my speedy trial run off to?

Apparently, Mr, Gullette didn't look (!It his calender properly the night beron" 110Ci now we're all standing around twiddling our thumbs wondering what in the hell we're dOIng here. Meanwhile, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why we just don't have him drive the 15 miles to Le)(ington so we can reschedule my trial date, whtch 11~(I originally been scheduled for ~ovember 17th but Ila(l to be extended because DaVid Zor'in took an obscene amount of time to withdraw and basically pr~vente(j the Public Defenders from having sufficient time to prepare; none of which has anything; to (10 with me, of course, except that it's my life that hllhgs in the balance of all this bullshtt,

Not to mention, why doesn't Scorsone ever reprimand the prosecutor for missing court? He hasn't mentioned it once, Is this what passes for prcresstonalisrn around here? Even now I can't figure out why we dWn't just call Gullette to flnd out Wilen he would be available for a trial and saved ourselves the trouble,

So, once again, the Judge suggests we sch(!!Ollle- anoth~r date to meet Just to schedule another trial (late and then, I guess, we'll cross our fingers 110(1 hope the prosecutor shows up. Believe me, it'$ as stupid as it sounds,

The three of them begIn bantering; about Clvailability untIL Scorsone suggests that we reconvene the very next day, As they consider it, I whisper to Chris Tracy that I am scheduled to be out of town and won't be avellebte.

He then suggests to the Judge that the three counselors be allowed to coordinate the new trial date in my absence, which seems reasonllble enough since I, franldy, couldn't care Ie" when the trial happens granted I'm provided ample notice beforehand.

But for reasons unbeknown to the rest of us, Scorsone disagrees and in$ists that that I am present for the scheduling of the neW tr'i~l and informs my representauves to di$Cvss tile matter with Mr, Gullette and to keep the court informed, We leave and all seems well.

Just as I'm on my W?lY out of town, Mr, Butcher Informs me that they've conversed with Mr. Gullette and rescheduled for tile- (olloWing Monday, En route to Key Largo, I learn that my transportation won't be available ~o retum on Monday and that I am essentially stucK ii] FloriO(luntil Tuesday, So I call the PD's office and leave b message, No reply, I call agatn on f"rlday morning and the secretary assures that she'll deliVer the message, so I forget about It and spend some time Writing on the beach,

But when tne weekend Is nearly passed and I haven't heard back from either of the Public Defenders, I begin to wonder, Finally, on Sunday, I decide I'm better safe than sorry and basically gUilt a (rfend of mine in Florida into drIving me all the way to Kentucky, She's a good friend, indeed. I definitely owe her one.

By me time I'Ve hitched the ride, we're already behind scnedute. After I'd driven a good deal of the way, she insists on driving, We switch places and I'm nappihg on the passenger side when the next thing I know, thi$ woman is barreling down the highway at nine-ty·seven miles an hour and, naturally, the pop a stops us. Sne yanks the ticket, hits the gas, but there's jmt not enough time in the day.

A couple of detours and a few traffic Jams laW, it's becoming readily apparent that the Mond~y appomtrnent is, simply, not a posslblllty. I al~rte(l the lawyers to the news and they Informed Mr. ~ulle~t(1 who, with his characteristic Ind1fference, ~)(p(~s$e(J no problem postponing Monday's appearance until Tuesday, You can imagIne the collective ga~p when Scorsone declared that a warrant would be issued for my arrest if I was not in hls courtroom at 3pm sharp Monday afternoon.

My attorneys later described his rather bizarre determination as uncharacteristic and were at a loss to explain it. f'or my part, IVe seen some members of the Fayette County Judici~ry do some very strange things and while thIs definitely hovers near the top of the list, I have my own theory as to why, but that's another blog altogstner. Anyway, they opined that all was not yet lost.

My understanding is that as I was stampeding up 1-95, Mr. ~Mcher and Mr. Tracy had met wIth Scorsone at 3pm hoping to dissuade him from Issuing a W2l(tMt, but th~t tneir pleas fell on deaf ears. IflCidentally, Mr. Gullette declined to grace the courtroom, ones ~gain, but that fact went unnotIced even as the il"ll< on my warrant was settling In. StHl, my ever optimistic counsel surmised, we would go to th~ )\l()ges' Chambers tomorrow after he had a chance to reconstcer and surely the man wm have come to his senses by then.

The next day, we chatted In the lopby for some twenty minutes before a petite secretary approached and politely informed us that the ju(lge Was l1either inclined to speak with us nor to lift the warrant. She smiled awl,wardly and l~n the three of us alone with the crfckets.

As we trudged back to the office, Mr. Tt<lW remarked that he and J hadn't had much luck With judges lately, to wh1ch I expressed doubt that the treatment we'd been experiencing had much to do with luck at all.

Ironically, It turns out tMy wer<i1 able to set a new trial date after all, for f'ebruary 22rd, without me and over the phone to boot, pet Mr. Tracy's original suggestion, At the end of the d",y, the only thing that anybody seems to have accomphshed for all the extra trouble Is the promise of me in a cell, Who needs prosecutors with judges like these? While I have no doubt that Mr. Scorsone is a ~enera\ly evenhanded and honorable man, there is something bad wrong with this picture.

Acc;orOil1g to Mr. Butcher, there Is no pending status date or 00110 revocation hearing scheduled for the $3000 my brother put up to ensure my freedom pendil'lg triil.l. That will undoubtedly change rn the near future, but it's almost as If the judge got so beslde himS(!lf in his eagerness to land me In a cage that I\e abandoned the official parttcutars In the process.

As last December made m<\ny well aware, a warrant for my arrest In LeXington is tantamount to a ltcense to kill in tM eyes of some highly antagonistic public servants. OM can only hope that It was a touur« to reaLize tllis which allowed Scorsone to [eopardlze my lite M fliPPi'l1tly as one flushes excrement,

Maybe that's what he thinks he's doil1g ...

So thil.t's the story. I am 11 fugItive, once again, for reasons tllat nave absolutely nothll1g to do with fairness or truth or allY high Ideal whatsoever. Ladles and gentlemen, this is What passes for justice in Fayette County, Kentucky.

While bias is understood to be an intrinsically human charactertsttc, that urge to presume on the basis of often erroneous InformatIon such as criminal history and passing innuendo, one can only hope that Lady Justice's eyes remain Shrouded as they should and implore that the prosecutlon and the defense be regarded equally 50 that no quarter be provided Mr. Gullette which Isn't summarily endowed upon myself as well. It seems a most humble and reasonable request; a mere reiteration of the most fundamental Inherence of any worthwhile legal system.

Which isn't to suggest tha.t one good foul deserves another or any such tWist of illogic, but only that in the totality or thts specific circumstance, it is difficult to fathom how one could arrive at the conclusion that my incarceration is the proper remedy for an Isolated incident of Inconvenient scheduling by arbiters.

Furthermore, if the respective sides are to be held to an even remotely comparable standard, then it Is noteworthy that Mr. Gullette has failed to appear at multiple appointments during the course of the last year without so much as a verbal reprimand or even an apology,

This most recent mishap, for which [ am currently held responsjbte, is more accurately, a hybrid of both the prosecutor's failure to appear on

November 4th and a rather perplexing failure to acknowledge my lack of availability on November 8th•

If the court will pardon the insistence, I deliberately submitted that I would be out of town in order to avoid the very dilemma in which I presently find myself. That the point has gone unnoticed and that I came to be regarded as the primary culprit of this mishap contradicts even the most unrefined conception of ratrness and alludes to a major point of concern in my mind-

It has been the experience that my extensive involvement with the Lexington Police Department has served to disrepute me among certain members of the local establishment. Incidentally) the suspicion has been confirmed on several occasions over the years by a myriad of officials, both on and off the record, to include a former member of the judiciary. And while it would be far from me to Insist that such is the case in this particular example, I must admIt to regard the question with no small measure of trepidation.

http://pleaslucian. blo gspot.com/20 1 0/11/1etter-to-j udge.html

ProfHe

Pleas Lucian Kavanaugh

was born and raised in the north western hemisphere, the southern region of the former United States. The son of a draftsman and a writer, his formative years were divided quite expressly between academic; pursults and amateur boxing. As an adult, he is determined to follow in his mothers footsteps and pursue a career as a screenwriter, He currently resides In Lexington, l<entucl<y, Where he is actively engaged in an uphill battts against the local pollee department,

View my complete profile

His Story .. 2010 m

" November (3)

A Letter to the Judge

Another Close encounter Of the Judicial Kind

Money Matters II: Mare Money

"" October (1) ... August m ~ June (1)

... 2009 (4) .. 2007 (3) ~ 2006 (12)

Third Rockers

11118/2010

Nov, 18, 2010 2:46PM Commonwealth atty

LOU"'" UVLU ul(.. ~lUIU n.ock: .I"l. .t....I;)HI;)! ~v tHO JUuge

Studies have hIghlighted the multitude of challenges confronting an indigent defender in the criminal justice system ranging from the typical lack of access to resources and overloaded public advocates to unabeshed dtsparttles in rates of detainment pending trial, conviction and even capital punishment.

In such a flagrantly lopsided system, a temperate arbitrator' serves as perhaps the greatest barrier between a less fortunate socio-economic status and injustice, To condone the denial of that single respite is to sanction the deprivation of justice altogether, Without it, I am lost before the first word was ever uttered on my behalf. And if the police have succeeded as the saboteurs of my life, then the judiciary should now play the role of my executioner,

But I remain hopeful that all has not been lost in a swift gust of disparaging conjecture and have faIth that my liberty should not be stamped out with calloused indifference and shameless preferentlality. I maintain my innocence and have no doubt that time will readily disprove my accusers as it unseats all things shoddily founded. In the interim, I hope to be allowed the benefit of the doubt due a presumably innocent man and respectfully request to remain tree until such time (;\5 a jury of my peers should decide otherwise,